DM&E lawsuit nears resolution

November 30, 2008

Attorneys for the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad and several Wyoming landowners have filed what could be the final documents needed to resolve a federal lawsuit on whether the railroad can use eminent domain. The Sioux Falls-based rail line wants to invest an estimated $6 billion to add and improve tracks in Wyoming, South Dakota and Minnesota so it can ship coal from Wyoming's Powder River Basin. DM&E wants to condemn more than 1,400 acres in Wyoming so it can access the coal mining district, but the landowners are fighting it. The judge must now decide if the project is in the public interest and if DM&E negotiated in good faith to buy the land.